Where did the steak go?

by Mark
(Peachtree City, GA)

A college age friend of ours was driving down a two lane road in rural Alabama several months ago. She happened to look up in the woods and saw several heads poking out. Being an animal lover she stopped. There were 5 puppies covered with fleas but otherwise looked to be healthy. Some piece of human debris left the dogs there. Our friend called my wife, also an animal lover and asked for help. My wife told her to give them to her mom who would transport them to our home in Georgia. We met the mom at a Sam's parking lot and put the dogs in the back of our truck in a kennel.

One dog (the only female) immediately came to my wife. All of the other dogs were male and somewhat timid. My wife posted pictures on Facebook and we immediately had several friends who may want to adopt one of the puppies.

We got the dogs home and started looking them over. We didn't know anything about the dogs except they looked to be Golden Labs or Retrievers maybe two months old or so. Since we had never seen a Pyr we didn't even consider the breed. We noticed they had two dew claws on their rear legs. I thought, "What kind of deformed labs are these?"

We looked them up on the internet and learned about Pyrs. We took the dogs to our local vet and he confirmed they they were Pyrs. Since we had several animals I didn't want another dog. We quickly got all of the dogs adopted to friends of ours except one. The female adopted us. Please know all of the others went to loving homes.

We have a little white dog, two inside cats, one old outside cat, and a Sulfer Crested Cockatoo and now a Pyr. They all get along. Until about a month ago our daughter's dog was living with us and they were best friends. My daughter moved to Texas with her dog and they miss each other.

The Pyr is about 7 months old now. A few days ago I cut up some steak to make steak and egg wraps. I left the steak in an open container on the counter. I got sidetracked having to go outside for something. I came back in and ALL OF THE STEAK WAS GONE. I immediately suspected my 14 year old son and asked him if he ate the steak. No. Then I asked my wife thinking she was playing a trick on me. No. I looked at Mocha, the Pyr and she didn't say anything. Her head doesn't reach the top of the counter yet and I didn't think she would put her paws up on the counter and eat something. Apparently, I was wrong. At least I know better from now on.

I am very excited about this dog. I am having to learn about the breed. She is different from any dog I have ever had. It amazes me how she will just sit and take things in.

About a month ago there were some neighbors who had some guests over. As they were walking down the hill to their truck Mocha walked to the edge of our yard. I thought she was going to go up to the men as all of the other dogs I ever had would do. When she got to the edge of our yard (no fence) she sat down. I kept calling her and she just ignored me. I got frustrated as I kept calling her and she wouldn't mind. She was about 100 feet from me. When she sat down I stopped calling her and just watched.

The men got in their truck and drove off. After "the threat was gone" she got up and came back to me. As I read about the breed I see that was normal. She was making sure her property was protected. This is going to be an interesting dog.